OWASP Incubator projects represent the experimental playground where projects are still being designed, ideas are still being proven, and development is still underway. The “OWASP Incubator” label allows OWASP consumers to readily identify a project’s maturity. The label allows project leaders to leverage the OWASP name while their project is still maturing. OWASP Incubator projects are given a place on the OWASP Projects Portal to leverage the organization's infrastructure, and establish their presence and project history. Many of the benefits and privileges afforded to projects are dependent upon metrics and statistics that are tracked by the OWASP Projects Infrastructure.

OWASP Incubator projects represent the experimental playground where projects are still being designed, ideas are still being proven, and development is still underway. The “OWASP Incubator” label allows OWASP consumers to readily identify a project’s maturity. The label allows project leaders to leverage the OWASP name while their project is still maturing. OWASP Incubator projects are given a place on the OWASP Projects Portal to leverage the organization's infrastructure, and establish their presence and project history. Many of the benefits and privileges afforded to projects are dependent upon metrics and statistics that are tracked by the OWASP Projects Infrastructure.

OWASP Project Stages

Projects, along with Global Conferences and Local Chapters, are the cornerstone of the OWASP organization. We want to provide a fostering environment for new ideas and energetic project leaders; however, our global consumers depend on OWASP to provide dependable, quality projects. Our OWASP Project Stages represent a balance between keeping a very loose structure around OWASP projects, and ensuring that OWASP consumers are not confused about a project’s maturity and quality.

Our lifecycle stages allow consumers to easily identify mature projects, and projects that are proofs of concept, experimental, and classified as prototypes in their current state. The greater the maturity of the project, the greater the level of responsibility for the project leader. These responsibilities are not trivial as OWASP provides incentives and benefits for projects who take on these added responsibilities.

The OWASP Project Lifecycle is broken down into the following stages:

OWASP Incubator Projects

OWASP Labs Projects

OWASP Flagship Projects

Each of these stages is described in greater detail in the sections that follow. At a minimum, all OWASP projects have a project name, a project leader, a project description, a project license choice, and a project roadmap. The goal of an OWASP Project is to create a concrete deliverable that furthers the OWASP mission. Projects are divided into 3 main categories: Tool, Code Library, and Documentation. On this page, you will find more detailed information about what you can expect from a project at each of the OWASP Project stages.

Incubator Projects

OWASP Incubator projects represent the experimental playground where projects are still being designed, ideas are still being proven, and development is still underway. The “OWASP Incubator” label allows OWASP consumers to readily identify a project’s maturity. The label allows project leaders to leverage the OWASP name while their project is still maturing. OWASP Incubator projects are given a place on the OWASP Projects Portal to leverage the organization's infrastructure, and establish their presence and project history. Many of the benefits and privileges afforded to projects are dependent upon metrics and statistics that are tracked by the OWASP Projects Infrastructure.

Incubator Project Deliverables

Leaders of Incubator Projects are expected to produce a draft or development release as a downloadable file on the project page within twelve (12) months of project inception. As previously mentioned, OWASP believes in pursuing ideas in a fail-fast manner. In order to avoid an excess of stagnant projects that never mature, projects will not be permitted to linger in an undeveloped state beyond this time period. If a project has not produced at least a draft or development release, the project will be removed from the OWASP Projects Portal. If a project leader subsequently produces a completed release and wishes to re-associate with OWASP Projects, then that project can be returned to the OWASP Projects Portal.

Once a project leader has completed at least one version of a concrete deliverable, the project is eligible for graduation into the OWASP Labs. Note that graduation to the OWASP Labs is optional, and a project leader that has completed at least one concrete deliverable may continue in the OWASP Incubator stage.

Lab Projects

OWASP Lab projects represent projects that have produced a deliverable of significant value. Leaders of OWASP Lab projects are expected to stand behind the quality of their projects as these projects have matured to the point where they are accepted by a significant portion of the OWASP community. While these projects are typically not production ready, the OWASP community expects that an OWASP Lab project leader is producing deliverables that are ready for mainstream usage.

OWASP Lab projects are meant to be the collection of established projects that have gained community support and acclaim by undergoing the project review process. These reviews are part of the Incubator Graduation Process that is required to enter the OWASP Lab stage. To enter OWASP Lab, projects must be actively maintained, they must meet the OWASP Lab project standards, and they must seek to provide value to OWASP consumers.

In recognition of these qualities, OWASP Lab projects have a primary spotlight in the OWASP Projects Portal, and they receive increased promotional opportunities within the OWASP organization.
While projects that graduate to the OWASP Lab can remain there indefinitely, project activity is a prominently featured piece of metadata on the Projects Portal. As a result, projects without periodic activity will be automatically tagged as inactive. As a result, project leaders are encouraged to maintain the level of excellence attributed to Lab projects.

Flagship Projects

The goal of OWASP Flagship projects is to identify, highlight, and support mainstream OWASP projects that make up a complete application security product of high quality and value to the software security industry. These projects are selected for their superior maturity, established quality, and strategic value to OWASP and application security as a whole.

OWASP Flagship projects represent projects that are not only mature, but are also projects that OWASP as an organization provides direct support to maintaining. The core mission of OWASP is to make application security visible and so as an organization, OWASP has a vested interest in the success of its Flagship projects. Since Flagship projects have such high visibility, these projects are expected to uphold the most stringent requirements of all OWASP Projects.

Selection for OWASP Flagship designation is by invitation only. A Labs project leader can present their case for why they think their project deserves Flagship status. However, there is no deterministic process to be designated a Flagship project. There are no steps to be followed that guarantee Flagship status. This status is reserved for the strategic use of OWASP to identify a platform that supports the OWASP mission to improve the state of application security via OWASP's open source projects.